We All Fall Down
by Eponine54
Summary: Post-Rent- Mimi is dead, and now Roger and the gang are left to try to pick up the pieces and move on.


We All Fall Down  
  
By Eponine54  
  
Hey, everyone! Looks like you found my new fanfiction. This one is post- Rent, and is sort of a "sequel" to Could You Ever Forgive Me For Never Saying I Love You. I know that it was a ficlet, but take this story as what actually happened. If you haven't read the ficlet- GO READ IT! Ok, hope everyone enjoys this story.  
  
Chapter 1- Forever Ever  
  
Mimi had died peacefully three days ago. Her death had brought a quiet grief upon Mark, Roger, Collins, Maureen, Joanne...even Benny. Though Maureen and Joanne had brought Mimi to the loft in time to keep her from dying right away, they were too late to stop the long-lasting effects from living on the street in the cold.  
  
"Roger?" Mark called into Roger's bedroom the morning of the funeral.  
  
There was no answer. Roger had not left his room in the past week. Mark doubted that he had eaten very much. Mostly, Roger slept...just closed himself out of the world and slept away all the demons that chased him during the daytime.  
  
"Roger?" Mark tried again.  
  
He was rewarded with a small grunt from Roger. Roger raised his head from the pillows and squinted at Mark in the early-morning wintry darkness.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"Um...Roger, we have to get ready to go to um..." Mark stuttered, not wanting to upset his friend.  
  
"The funeral. Yes, I know, Mark! You think that wasn't on my mind all night long- me trying not to go to sleep so that I wouldn't have to wake up to the day where I have to bury my love...my Mimi...in the dirt?" Roger spat bitterly.  
  
On any other day, Mark would have thrown up his hands and taken Roger's attitude to heart- Roger was, and would forever remain, the classic "bad ass". Today...today was different.  
  
"I'm sure it must have crossed your mind once or twice..." Mark started.  
  
"Save it, alright? I'll be up in a minute," he sighed.  
  
Mark closed the door and walked away. Inside his room, Roger sat up and stretched. His muscles contracted painfully as Roger had barely moved anywhere for any reason at all in the past week. Her memory was too unbearable. Just the thought of her face; the way her curls framed it in wild tendrils, the way her lips had a rounded curve in the bottom that made kissing her all the more exciting; her laughter, her voice...just everything that made Mimi the one woman Roger had ever completely given himself up to- besides April. April...he had had to bury love deep in the ground once. It didn't seem fair that he had to do it again. Roger silently got dressed in the black rented suit that was draped over his guitar case...his precious Fender that had sung its heart out to bring Mimi back to life-and failed. He grabbed the case and carried it with him out of the room.  
  
"Roger, why are you...?" Mark started upon Roger's arrival in the living room.  
  
"Let it be, Mark." Collins chided gently.  
  
The young ex-professor had come up from his apartment downstairs to stay with Roger and Mark for a few days.  
  
"Where is everyone else?" Collins wanted to know.  
  
"Joanne and Maureen are meeting us at the church. Benny is..." Mark said.  
  
"Benny? Why does he have to be there?" Roger demanded, setting down the coffee mug he had picked up with a thud.  
  
"Because he was Mimi's friend too and he cared about her." Mark answered.  
  
"He was an asshole to her! Remember New Year's Eve- all that horrible shit he said about her whoring herself?"  
  
"Which wasn't true." Collins cut in.  
  
Roger threw up his hands. "I know that! That proves my point all the more though- that Benny was bitter enough about their breakup to go around and say shit about her to the next guy she was with! I don't want him there."  
  
"But Roger," Mark tried.  
  
"I said no!"  
  
"...he paid for Angel's funeral." Collins said softly. "He can't be all bad."  
  
Roger and Mark went silent at the memory of Angel's funeral. It had been some time now since Angel's death, and they knew that Collins still grieved deeply and inwardly for his lover's death to this very day. In fact, today would probably affect Collins almost as much as Roger- the last funeral he went to was Angel's. Funerals aren't something that you forget.  
  
"Fine," Roger said heavily. "But he isn't coming back here for the reception."  
  
"That's not very gracious, Roger." Mark said.  
  
"Deal." Collins interrupted. "Now, let's go."  
  
They all piled into Collin's blue station wagon and drove to the church. As they sat themselves, Roger couldn't help but notice just how many people there were, just mourning for the loss of just one person. He could see Mr. and Mrs. Marquez sitting in the first pew. Tentatively, he approached them.  
  
"Mr. Marquez?" Roger asked slowly.  
  
The older man turned around and stared at Roger. His eyes showed no recognition for the spiky-haired blond youth, but Mrs. Marquez, who had also turned around, grasped his hand warmly.  
  
"Roger," she said in a softly accented voice.  
  
"Yes...hi, I'm Roger Davis...I was Mimi's boyfriend..." Roger said, his voice cracking.  
  
"I know," she said. "Mimi told us about you whenever she called home. She always said such wonderful things about you."  
  
Roger swiped vigorously at his rapidly tearing eyes. "She did?"  
  
"Yes," Mr. Marquez said, "She did. She loved you so."  
  
"I was a very lucky man. You must miss her terribly." Roger said, trying to find some connection with these people that were so close to home but yet he had never known.  
  
"Not as much as you do, I bet." Mrs. Marquez replied. "Family is always close, but true love is closer. You were the best thing that ever happened to our daughter. You made her happy. Thank you."  
  
Suddenly, the priest came up to the pulpit. The Marquezes slid over and made room for him. He glanced backward and saw that Mark and Collins had found Maureen, Joanne, and Benny a few rows back and were sitting with them.  
  
"Good morning. Today we are here to mourn the death of Marcella Francesca Marquez. Please be seated," the priest spoke.  
  
"I didn't know her real name was Marcella." Roger whispered.  
  
"She hated it," Mr. Marquez whispered back, "So we called her Mimi for short."  
  
The priest went through the eulogy and a few prayers. To Roger, though, it seemed like they were just mourning some random person that he had barely known. This priest didn't really know Mimi...hell; he'd bet that three quarters of the people in this church didn't really know Mimi.  
  
"Would anyone like to say a few words?" The priest asked twenty minutes later.  
  
Roger stood up. "I would, Father."  
  
Roger grabbed his Fender case from underneath the pew and went up to the pulpit. He pushed the pulpit aside and instead, grabbed a chair from where the alter boys sat during the services.  
  
"A few weeks ago," Roger began as he opened his guitar case, "I wrote a song. Mimi and I were, uh, having some trouble at this point, and I felt bad. Actually, I felt like shit, to be perfectly honest. When Mimi and I finally reunited, our reunion was cut tragically short. Before she passed, however, I was able to play her this song that I wrote for her. Today, I am going to play this song for you. We are here not just to mourn her death, but to celebrate the life she was able to live and the love we had for her."  
  
Roger strummed gently on his Fender. "I called this song, 'Your Eyes'."  
  
Your Eyes  
  
As We Said Our Goodbyes  
  
Can't Get Them Out Of My Mind  
  
And I Find I Can't Hide from  
  
Your Eyes  
  
The Ones That Took Me By Surprise  
  
The Night You Came Into My Life  
  
Where There's Moonlight  
  
I See Your Eyes  
  
How'd I Let You Slip Away  
  
When I'm Longing So To Hold You  
  
Now I'd Die For One More Day  
  
'Cause There's Something I Should  
  
Have Told You  
  
Yes There's Something I Should Have  
  
Told You  
  
When I looked Into Your Eyes  
  
Why Does Distance Make Us Wise  
  
You Were The Song All Along  
  
And Before The Song Dies  
  
I Should Tell You I Should Tell You  
  
I Have Always Loved You  
  
You Can See It In My Eyes  
  
As he sang the song, he could feel the eyes of the entire church upon him. He knew Maureen was probably crying, Mark was probably trying to escape the emotion, and that Collins was thinking about Angel. This song for Mimi was a connection for everyone there. Tears streamed down his cheeks so fast he could barely make out the guitar strings he plucked. When it was over, he stood up.  
  
"I love you, Mimi Marquez. Forever ever and the rest of my life, I will love you," he said brokenly, trying to restrain all the emotion that threatened to break through the floodgates and break free.  
  
And then he ran. The rest of the world didn't matter, his Fender still sitting on the stool didn't matter...he just had to leave, had to get out of there. He blew past Mimi's parents, past her relatives, past his friends and out onto the street. He ran across the backyard of the church and into the adjoining small cemetery. It was there he collapsed and didn't want to get up- not as long as he lived. 


End file.
